In recent years the use of cellular phones, smart phones, global positioning systems (GPS), personal data assistants (PDAs), laptop computers, and other such mobile units has increased dramatically. In any given enterprise, it is not uncommon for many thousands of mobile units to be present within the system. Extending business applications and data to mobile devices delivers a significant increase in employee productivity. It is therefore an expensive, time-consuming and critical task to administer large groups of mobile units, particularly when their use is important to day-to-day operation of the enterprise.
Recently companies have developed solutions that can allow network administrators to manage a group of enterprise mobile devices in a centralized manner, for instance, from a centralized Network Operations Center (NOC). For instance, Motorola, Inc. has developed a device management system called the Mobility Services Platform (MSP). MSP can dramatically reduce the time and cost associated with day-to-day management of mobile devices. Device management systems such as MSP can significantly reduce the time and cost required to manage a large number of mobile devices. This device management system can be used to manage hundreds of devices in a local site or tens or hundreds or thousands of mobile computers around the world from one centralized computer. Minimal hands-on time is required for staging of mobile devices for initial use, and ongoing provisioning and troubleshooting can be completely managed remotely via an anywhere and anytime web-based interface. Manual procedures are automated, eliminating errors. Among other things, MSP allows a network administrator to get devices up and running right out of the box, and ensures that devices are always loaded with the most current applications and operating system software. MSP enables a network administrator to constantly monitor and rapidly troubleshoot device issues to keep users up, running and productive.
MSP-like systems provide advanced staging capabilities for configuring network and device settings and loading software (e.g., operating systems and initial applications) simply, easily, securely and remotely. MSP-like systems can allow a single point of control (e.g., administrator at a network operations center (NOC)) to issue automated template-based configurations enabling tens or hundreds or thousands of mobile devices to be staged in minutes rather than months. This frees up hundreds (or more) of hours that would otherwise be spent on manual, error-prone efforts. Support for multiple device staging methods ensures one step simplicity for users, who can complete the staging by (1) scanning a series of rapid deployment bar codes, sending a short message service (SMS) message, (2) sending data over Bluetooth or other infrared (IR) systems, (3) performing an ActiveSync, (4) docking the device in a cradle connected to a PC or computer network, or (5) simply connecting to a pre-defined staging network.
Notwithstanding these advances it is desirable to provide other alternative systems and methods for staging the devices in an enterprise network. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.